bathometer

[buh-thom-i-ter]

noun

Oceanography.

1. a device for ascertaining the depth of water.

bathometer

/ ˌbæθəˈmɛtrɪk, bəˈθɒmɪtə, bəˈθɒmɪtrɪ /

noun

1. an instrument for measuring the depth of water

bathometer

1. An instrument that is used to measure water depth without the use of a sounding line. The bathometer does not require a line to extend to the bottom because it measures the difference in the gravitational effect of the water surface and of solid ground.

Other Word Forms

• bathometric adjective
• bathometry noun
• bathometrically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of bathometer¹

First recorded in 1870–75; batho- + -meter

Example Sentences

“I would describe ICESat-2 as an accidental bathometer,” Parrish says.

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Bathometer, bath-om′et-ėr, n. an instrument for ascertaining depth.

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He seems to have invented the first wind pressure gauge, as an aid to seamen, and he improved the bathometer, hygrometer, hydrometer, and barometer, as well as instruments not directly involved in measurement such as the vacuum pump and sea-water sampling devices.

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The bathometer, or attraction-meter, was brought out in 1876, and exhibited at the Loan Exhibition in South Kensington.

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Just as the latter instrument indicates the pressure of the atmosphere above it, so the bathometer was intended to show the pull of the earth below it; and experiment proved, we believe, that for every 1,000 fathoms of sea-water below the ship, the total gravity of the mercury was reduced by 1/3200 part.

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